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- Cool and comfortable
- Affordable
- Can be machine washed and tumble dried
- Not quite thick enough to provide substantial comfort to a firm mattress
- Topper sizes are smaller than the mattress
Slumberdown has a fairly extensive range of mattress toppers, with the Sleep Soundly Climate Control being one of the cheaper options, with prices starting at around £21 for a single. That’s something of a bargain in the topper world, but can it compete with the best mattress toppers at this lower price point?
It’s not the thickest topper in the world and it does have some flaws, but the Slumberdown excels when it comes to temperature regulation and keeping you cool at night. For hot sleepers, this could be a godsend. Let’s find out more about this little topper…
Slumberdown Sleep Soundly Climate Control mattress topper: What do you get for the money?
Made from 100% polyester, the 2.5cm deep Slumberdown topper has a simple construction with a soft touch cover and hollowfibre filling. Slumberdown says that the cover is hypoallergenic and that the filling is “scientifically proven to carry excess moisture away from your body” (more on the topper’s abilities later). The topper has an anti-slip bottom with little round sticky grippers to keep it in place on your mattress. Conveniently, the whole topper can be bunged in the washing machine up to 40°C, and it will also survive the tumble dryer, making it far easier to keep clean and fresh. I don’t have a tumble dryer but can attest that it will also line dry, or dry in a warm room given time.
Prices start at £21 for a single, rising to £24 for a double and £27 for a king. And that’s it size-wise, I’m afraid: there’s no super king option, although some of the brand’s other toppers offer a wider choice of sizes. It’s the cheapest topper I’ve tested, beating even the Silentnight Airmax that retails at £38 for a single. The flip side of this incredibly cheap price is that you won’t get any sort of guarantee or sleep trial (something we’ve come to almost expect since so many bed-in-a-box brands started offering lengthy trials). If the product is faulty, though, you can send it back for a full refund or exchange.
What did we like and how did the topper fare in our tests?
It’s hard to argue with the price of the Slumberdown Sleep Soundly Climate Control topper and, if you’re on a tight budget, it’s a great pick. But that cheaper price does come with some compromises, which I’ll look at later.
Slumberdown claims that this topper will keep your temperature regulated overnight by wicking away excess moisture but how well does this work in real life? I’ll admit that I was fairly dubious about this claim as a lot of ‘cooling’ products don’t actually cool at all. So, to start with, I ran a body heat test as we do on mattresses (see our How we test mattresses article for more details) to look at whether the topper did cool down the bed at all. Firstly, I ran these tests on our spare room bed, which is a Nectar Essential Hybrid. The room temperature was 17.8°C and I sat on the bed until the temperature probe reached 30°C underneath me. After getting up, the temperature dropped to 20.9°C after three minutes and 20.4°C after 10 minutes.
I then repeated the test with the topper on top of the mattress, recording an initial drop to 19.1°C after three minutes. After 10 minutes, the temperature had dropped to 18.4°C. On these figures alone, it would seem that the Climate Control topper does live up to its temperature regulating claims – though bear in mind that a large reason for it not retaining heat for quite as long may simply be down to how thin it is.
How did it fare when we slept on it? My husband is the hot sleeper of the pair of us, and he found that the topper did indeed keep him comfortable overnight. Whether or not it’s wicking away moisture in the way Slumberdown claims we can’t say for sure, but he certainly felt that his temperature remained regulated at all times. By contrast, I am (as previous readers will know) somewhat of a reptile at the best of times and I actually found the topper made me feel a little too chilly after a few hours of sleeping on it. Now, this topper might not compete with those containing “cooling materials”, but we usually take these with a pinch of salt anyway. The Climate Control topper does a pretty good job overall, especially when you consider its ridiculously low price.
I also felt the topper was very soft and comfortable to lie on, with the grippers working well to keep it in place and not sliding around the mattress. It’s also incredibly useful that it’s both machine washable and can be tumble dried, as this makes it far easier to keep clean. Despite this, I’d still recommend using a mattress protector with the topper, as these are even quicker to wash and dry.
How can it be improved?
There are a couple of drawbacks with the Slumberdown Climate Control mattress topper. For starters, the single topper we received was a little shorter than the length of the mattress, an issue I also noted when I recently reviewed the Dreams Dream Team Ultimate Washable mattress topper. However, unlike the Dreams topper, the Slumberdown doesn’t have straps to keep it in place on the bed, relying instead on a grippy bottom. While I didn’t run into any trouble with the topper rucking up as I slept, it’s worth making a note of this. Some corner straps would go a long way in ensuring a secure fit.
The topper also just isn’t very thick. It’s soft and comfortable to lie on but doesn’t add a huge amount of padding to the mattress. It won’t change the feel of your mattress as our top rated topper, the Dorma Full Forever does. Ultimately, if you’re looking for a topper that will add a layer of plush comfort to your mattress, look for something around 5cm or thicker. Slumberdown does sell an “Extra Deep” 10cm thick Climate Control mattress topper, but I should point out that this is almost three times the price at £60 for a double. And being four times as thick, temperature regulation might not be quite as good either.
Should you buy the Slumberdown Sleep Soundly Climate Control mattress topper?
The Slumberdown Sleep Soundly Climate Control mattress topper is quite tricky to score. If I was solely rating it on temperature regulation, it’d be an easy recommendation. And if you’re a hot sleeper on a budget, I think you’ll get on with it. My tests reflected its temperature regulating qualities, and it felt comfortably cool and breathable throughout the nights I spent sleeping on it. It’s also extremely handy that it can be both machine washed and tumble dried, making it a good fit for the whole family.
On the other hand, its lack of padding makes it a rather insubstantial mattress topper. If you’re looking for something to add a layer of comfort to an old, lumpy or firm mattress, it’s not the topper for you. It adds a little bit of softness and is very comfortable but it’s too thin to make much of a discernible difference. For something a bit more substantial, perhaps check out one of the thicker foam options in our best mattress toppers roundup, such as the Panda topper.
I’m keen to try out Slumberdown’s Extra Deep 10cm variant next to find out if it offers more substantial comfort without compromising on temperature regulation. But as far as the 2.5cm Climate Control topper is concerned, while it’s four stars in the temperature regulating department, it’s lack of padding unfortunately holds it back in the long run.
